How to Scale a Digital Marketing Agency

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Many digital marketing agencies want to acquire new clients in order to scale their business. And while most digital marketing agencies are experts at getting new clients, there are other ways to grow your agency. So, how to scale your agency using other approaches or strategies?

Well, getting new clients is one way to grow your agency. But you also need to ensure you can retain the clients you already have to grow your business. 

After all, nurturing and retaining a client is much easier (and cheaper) than acquiring a new one. With that said, let’s get into our guide to scaling digital agencies.

We’ll share some practical steps and strategies on how to scale your marketing agency fast.

Read also: Digital Marketing Experts to Follow

How to Scale a Marketing Agency

We’ll start by looking at the digital, operations, and growth sides of taking your online marketing business to the next level.

We’ll also look at the existing competitive landscape for digital marketing agencies to scale. Finally, we’ll discuss some actionable steps to grow your agency in an increasingly competitive environment.

The Digital Side

The first step in scaling your digital marketing agency is ensuring you have the right tools and technologies. It is always a good idea to select tools that are not only easy to use but also scalable. 

In other words, digital marketing agency management software should handle increasing work and data as your agency grows. The right tech stack includes everything from your content management system to your email marketing and automation software.

Another key consideration is your team’s bandwidth. Can they keep up with the increased workload? If not, you may need to consider hiring more staff or outsourcing some of the work.

For example, you can scale the digital side of your LinkedIn marketing with Dripify. It’s an easy-to-use tool that allows you to automate your LinkedIn outreach, making the process efficient and more seamless. 

And as your agency grows, you may want to cater to more clients and manage more campaigns with Dripify outreach automation tool. Learn why digital marketing agencies need Dripify for the business growth.

The Operations Side

Improving your digital marketing agency operations is the second most important element regarding how to scale your agency. Managing a digital agency involves many moving parts, from client management and project coordination to team collaboration and more.

For this reason, it is essential to have systems and processes in place to help you manage your agency effectively. This includes everything from your daily operations to your long-term strategic planning.

Investing in project management software can be a game-changer when scaling your agency. Not only will it help you keep track of all your projects and deadlines, but it will also allow you to assign tasks and monitor progress easily.

In addition, you need to make sure that you have a clear understanding of your financial situation. That’s because you can’t scale the side of your operation without having a solid financial position.

The Growth Side

Last but not least, we have the growth side. This entails having systems and resources to acquire new clients and grow your revenue. But there are a few key things to consider here. 

First, you must ensure that you have a solid marketing strategy. This will help you generate leads and convert them into paying clients. In addition, you should create a decent digital marketing agency sales process to close deals effectively. This includes everything from initial contact to proposal and negotiation.

Finally, you need to consider how you will scale your team and operations as your client base grows. This includes hiring new staff, expanding your office space, and investing in new tech. Let’s get to the current challenges!

The Current Challenges of Scaling a Digital Marketing Agency

Now that we’ve gone over the digital, operational, and growth sides of things, let’s look at the current challenges of scaling an agency:

1. Competitive Scenario

The first challenge is the competitive scenario. With more and more businesses realizing the importance of digital marketing, the competition will only heat up.

That’s why it’s important to differentiate your agency from the rest. What makes you unique? What can you offer that others can’t? That calls for niching down and specializing in a particular area or type of marketing.

For example, you can offer LinkedIn profile optimization to a specific niche. This will help you stand out from the crowd and attract clients seeking those specific services.

You can also narrow it down based on the content or services you offer. For example, you can be an agency specializing in developing social media video content.

2. Increasing Churn Rate

Another challenge is an increased client churn rate. As your agency grows, you may lose some clients. This happens partly because of the fierce competition and partly because your team can’t handle the increased workload.

To combat this, you must have systems and a strong retention strategy in place. This includes providing excellent service to staying in touch with your clients regularly. And as a digital marketing agency owner, you must get innovative along the way. When one door closes, another one opens only when you are ready!

3. Getting the Top Talent

As your agency grows, you will need to hire more staff. The number of average talents is way more than the top talent. Considering the war for talent in the marketing industry, it’s not always easy to find the best candidates.

So, the challenge here is finding and attracting top talent to your agency. But to attract top talent, you must offer competitive salaries and benefits and an attractive work environment. And that calls for low-profit margins, sometimes.

It is a good idea to hire new talent and use the service of other resources like freelance digital marketing professionals only when needed to solve this challenge.

4. Working on a Shoestring Budget

You need a good budget when you have the best tech stacks, efficient assembly lines, and top talent. That’s the last challenge for agency owners. 

Many agencies work on a shoestring budget and must be frugal with every penny they spend. This can put a lot of pressure on the agency, making it difficult to scale effectively.

The key here is to balance investing in the right things and being frugal with your spending. Focus on high ROI activities that will help you scale without breaking the bank.

Scaling a digital marketing agency is not an easy feat. But if you focus on the right things, it is possible to overcome the challenges and scale effectively.

Optimize Digital Marketing Agency Workflow

Optimizing digital agency process workflow is one of the best ways to scale your digital marketing agency. This includes everything from task management to communication and collaboration.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. State Your Expected Outcomes Clearly

To scale your digital marketing agency, you must be clear about your expected outcomes. What are your goals and objectives? What does success look like to you?

Communicate these things to your team, so everyone works towards the same goal. That’s important because it can help you stay focused and avoid scope creep.

For setting objectives, ensure to use the SMART framework. This will help you set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals.

2. Manage Your Tasks Effectively

When it comes to task management, you must ensure that everyone on your team is on the same page. This means assigning tasks and deadlines, tracking progress, and communicating with your team regularly.

There are several task management tools out there that can help you do this effectively. Asana, Trello, and ClickUp are all great options. Note, however, that it’s not just about the software or tool you use but also how you use it. Be sure to set up your task management system in a way that works for your team.

3. Reconfirm and Simplify the Processes

As your team grows and you take on more clients, it’s important to reconfirm and simplify your processes. This includes everything from your onboarding process to your communication protocols.

The goal is to make things as simple and streamlined as possible. That way, everyone on your team knows what they need to do and how they need to do it.

To do this effectively, you need to document your processes. This will help you simplify and streamline them as much as possible. One of the best ways to scale your digital marketing agency is to train your team regularly.

4. Track Time Accurately

To scale your digital agency, you must track your time accurately. This includes everything from project management to billing and invoicing.

There are many time-tracking tools out there that can help you do this effectively. For example, you can use Clockify, Toggl, MyHours, and more.

By accurately tracking time, an agency can ensure that it correctly bills clients for services rendered. Time tracking also allows agencies to measure their team’s efficiency and make necessary adjustments.

Finally, accurate time tracking makes invoicing and billing easier, saving an agency a lot of time and hassle. That’s probably the most crucial thing when scaling a digital marketing agency.

5. Re-Evaluate Your Buyer Personas

That’s probably the most important thing on this list. As your business grows, you’ll need to re-evaluate your buyer personas.

Your buyer persona is the fictional representation of your ideal client. It includes things like their demographics, interests, needs, and pain points. As your digital marketing business grows and changes, so will your ideal client. That’s why it’s important to re-evaluate your buyer persona regularly.

This will help ensure you’re targeting the right people with your marketing efforts. Otherwise, you’ll get less and less return on investment (ROI) from your marketing campaigns.

There are many ways to do this effectively. For example, you can use surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Optimize your workflow, train your team, and re-evaluate your buyer persona, so your marketing efforts are on point.

6. Upgrade a Digital Marketing Agency Tools Stack

You must upgrade your tools for digital marketing agency growth. The software you use have a direct impact on your productivity. There are several great digital marketing tools for agencies out there that can help you boost your business. For example, Hootsuite, BuzzSumo, and CoSchedule are all great options.

Consider these things when choosing software for you:

• Ease of use;
• Functionality;
• Customer support;
• Pricing and your budget.

The goal is to find tools to help you work more efficiently and effectively. For example, Dripify can be mind-blowing if you want to prospect for new clients on LinkedIn. The bottom line is that you need to upgrade your tool stack regularly.

Related article: Best Sales Prospecting Tools

7. Hone Your Hiring Process

When it comes to scaling a digital marketing agency, having an effective hiring process is essential. This includes everything from identifying the right candidates to onboarding them effectively.

You can use tools to help you identify the best candidates, track their progress, and assess their cultural fit. But an effective hiring process goes beyond just using the software.

These are a few things that will help you hone your hiring process:

• Have a clear job description;
• Set up interviews that are relevant to the position;
• Test candidates’ skills;
• Help your candidates understand your brand;
• Make the process fast yet efficient;
• Keep an eye on the industry’s trends.

An agency’s effective hiring process ensures the best possible employees and maximum ROI. And that brings us to our next point.

8. Outsource Strategically

Outsourcing is a great way to scale a digital marketing agency. It lets you focus on your core competencies while delegating non-essential tasks to others. 

Of course, you need to be strategic about it. Not all tasks are suitable for outsourcing. For example, you wouldn’t want to outsource your SEO strategy. Instead, focus on social media, content creation, and lead generation. These are all areas where you can get help from outside sources.

Most frequently, this method is related to small businesses that lack the workforce to handle everything in-house. But it can also be used by agencies that want to focus on high-value tasks.

There are many ways to find quality freelancers, such as using online platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. Take the time to vet your freelancers before hiring them.

9. Focus on Client Experience

Client experience should be a top priority for any digital marketing agency that wants to scale. That’s because your clients are your ultimate assets who will contribute to expanding your business.

There are many ways to improve your client’s experience. For example, you can use feedback to improve your products and services. Or you can also focus on your team’s communication skills.

By making your clients happy, you’re more likely to see repeat business and referrals. And that will ultimately lead to the growth of your digital marketing agency.

Pro tip: Use a CRM to track client interactions and ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Remember, even a 5% increase in customer retention can result in a 95% increase in profits. So, if you’re not already focusing on customer experience, now is the time to start.

10. Increase Your Prices

One of the best ways to scale a digital marketing agency is to increase your prices gradually. But you’ll want to adopt this approach carefully and strategically. 

As your business grows, you can offer more value to your clients. And as you add more services and features, you can justify a price increase. But do it only if you can justify it!

Of course, you don’t want to increase your prices too much or too quickly. You also need to be sure that your clients are happy with the value you’re providing. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing your clients.

11. Establish Beneficial Partnerships

Another way to scale a digital marketing agency is to establish partnerships with other businesses. That’s our favorite strategy!

Partnering with complementary businesses helps you reach a wider audience and provide more value to your clients. Collaborations also give you access to new resources and allow you to tap into new networks.

For example, you might partner or collaborate with a web design agency to offer your clients a complete package of services. Or you might do it with a local print shop to get discounts on marketing materials.

Partnering with other businesses can help you:

• Save money on costs;
• Reach a wider audience;
• Offer a more comprehensive range of services;
• Improve your brand image.

You can scale your digital marketing agency more effectively by partnering with the right businesses. With that said, it’s important to choose your partners wisely. Ensure you partner with businesses that complement your own and that you can trust.

Related article: Why You Need Dripify for Small Businesses

Conclusion

Scaling a digital marketing agency can be a challenge. However, following the tips and advice in this guide can make the process much easier. Remember to be clear about your goals, simplify your digital agency sales process, and re-evaluate your strategy regularly.

Also, always track your time, understand the buyer’s persona, upgrade your tech stack, and hone the hiring process. And make sure to outsource strategically, create delightful client experiences, increase prices carefully, and establish partnerships and collaborations.

And don’t forget to try out the Dripify free trial! We are the all-in-one outreach automation platform that will help you quickly scale your digital marketing agency. With our help, you can focus on your core business while putting the repetitive LinkedIn marketing activities on autopilot.